Seattle. One minute you’re drinking a vanilla breve, the next, some creepy old dude is breathing on you, turning you into a zombie. And that’s just for starters. Now, the recently deceased Amanda Feral is trying to make her way through Seattle’s undead scene with style (mortuary-grade makeup, six-inch stilettos, Balenciaga handbag on sale) while satisfying her craving for human flesh (Don’t judge. And no, not like chicken.) and decent vodkatinis.

Making her way through a dangerous world of cloud-doped bloodsuckers, reapers, horny and horned devils, werewolves, celebrities, and PR-obsessed shapeshifters–not to mention an extremely hot bartender named Ricardo–isn’t easy. And the minute one of Amanda’s undead friends disappears after texting the word, “help” (The undead–so dramatic!) she knows the afterlife is about to get really ugly.

Something sinister is at hand. Someone or something is hellbent on turning Seattle’s undead underworld into a place of true terror. And this time, Amanda may meet a fate a lot worse than death…

Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry (Amanda Feral #1)
March 1, 2008 (Reissued February 2, 2010)
Urban Fantasy
Paperback, 291 Pages
Kensington
Reviewed by Mandi

Amanda Feral likes to eat. Now, since she was turned into a zombie five months ago, her diet has gone from food, to err…humans. She enjoys eating them too though. Her best friend, fellow zombie Wendy and pal, vampire Gil are quite the trio. A typical night out for them includes hanging at the hip paranormal spot, the Well of Souls, drinking alcohol (the one thing a zombie can digest besides human flesh) and snarking on everyone around them. They are bitchy, arrogant, and proud to be that way.

In pre-zombie days, Amanda was a successful ad executive, until the one fateful night some really gross dude breathed on her, and then seconds later Amanda tripped and cracked her skull. When she woke up, her body temperature was a cool 68 degrees and her skin took on a lovely translucent tone, highlighted with blue veins. Amanda has become an expert at applying makeup to appear “normal” and has come up with creative ways to keep her therapist, who is also her bed buddy (but hey she doesn’t have to pay him..in money) from noticing this change.

Amanda and gang now have another task besides drinking and gossiping, their friend Liesl has gone missing. Amanda takes it upon herself to do some investigative work and what she starts to uncover is a pretty scary plan corrupt Seattle and the world with zombies.

I was warned before reading Happy Hour of the Damned. Heck, I was warned by the author that the book has a certain type of humor that not everyone will enjoy. I had some bloggers tell me this is one of the funniest books they had ever read. Others warned me that the humor is gross and disgusting and they couldn’t see the appeal. Now those that know me well, know I have a somewhat immature sense of humor, and I live in a house full of men, so the conversation always ends up in the bathroom (sorry men, it’s true.) So I said bring it on. Plus, the title contains the words “Happy Hour” – Smexy’s favorite two words!

Even with the warnings, there were times my mouth hung open. I laughed until my stomach hurt, and just when I would tell myself, wow, this book can’t get more shocking, it would. What I loved most about this book is Amanda’s forthright demeanor. She is a zombie. Zombie’s eat people to live, hence Amanda eats people. There is no remorse, or morals in play. They go on “fun runs” where they rent a van and park at the welfare agency. They pretend to screen applicants and agree to get them to go in the van. I don’t need to tell you what happens inside the van. Well, she won’t eat a kid, and she normally eats those that are less fortunate, but they are still people. At first I was a little surprised there was no explanation for her actions. But I like that this is how she is. This is how a zombie in the – real world – would act. Plus Amanda is just a bitch. She is shallow, offensive, and conceded and it totally works.

Her friend Wendy is just as sarcastic and snarky, if not worse. Add in Gil, the gay vampire, and their observations of the paranormal world will have you giggling throughout. And getting back to the bathroom humor – let me just say, zombies can’t digest anything but humans or alcohol but that doesn’t mean Amanda and Wendy don’t crave a Starbucks every now and then. Instead of drinking and spending an unpleasant time in the bathroom their solution is to wear Depends. They carry them around in their purse and some of the funniest moments in the book come when they are discussing this problem.

What really made the book unique and notched up the humor level even more are the footnotes throughout the entire book. As Amanda is narrating the story, the footnotes provide further humorous observations and it got to the point where my eye would roam to see when we were getting the next one.

For a third of the book, Amanda takes us on a flashback telling us how she became a zombie and how she met Amanda and Gil. Amanda and her became bosom buddies after bonding over how to cover their blue veined skin with make-up:

“I have no intention of walking around looking like the underside of a hard-on.”
”No way! Wendy screamed, turning from the boxes and shoving my shoulder.
I jumped back, my eyes wide. “Jesus, what?”
”I can’t believe you call them that,” she said, turning back toward me, a second tub of foundation clutched to her chest, like an Emmy. “I call them scrotal veins.”
”Get the fuck out of here. You’re my new best friend.”

Although I liked seeing how the gang meets, this is where the story slows down. Once we get back to present day, and the plot develops around their missing friend and an evil scheme for a zombie world domination, the pace picks up and flows much more smoothly.

On top of all the funnies (and they are constant in this book), there is a mystery to be solved. Poor Liesl is missing, and as Amanda says, “Christ, how are we going to help. Not a caring nurturer in the bunch.” And that is true – they don’t freak out and run to the rescue. Wardrobe and hair must be considered, and you can never forget about dinner. At one point Amanda even admits, “I hadn’t been focused on finding Liesl with any sincerity. I’m embarrassed to admit, I was still a bit irritated that she had taken the entire focus away from me.”

Happy Hour of the Damned is probably not for everyone, but it definitely worked for me. So different than any paranormal or urban fantasy book I have read. I very much look forward to the next two in the series.

Rating: 4/5

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